Earth Equity News

Salazar Gives Green Light to Cape Wind. By Juliet Eilperin, WashPost, April 29, 2010. "Ending a nearly decade-long political battle over installing wind turbines in the waters just off Cape Cod, the federal government approved the first offshore wind farm in the United States on Wednesday, a move that could pave the way for significant offshore wind development elsewhere in the nation. In approving the Cape Wind project, a group of 130 modern windmills in Nantucket Sound that would start generating electricity by the end of 2012, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he would 'strike the right balance' between energy development and protecting the area. Some opponents of the project said it would endanger the habitat for seabirds; others decried the visual impact of the turbines, as close as five miles from shore... Massachusetts Gov. Deval L. Patrick (D), who pushed for the wind project as part of his plan to generate 20% of the state's electricity with renewable energy sources by 2020, stood by Salazar's side at a Boston news conference. 'We are on our way, and if we get clean energy right, the whole world will be our customers,' Patrick said.

"There are at least 11 other U.S. offshore wind projects in development, off Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island and Texas. NRG Energy Executive Vice President Drew Murphy -- whose company is developing wind farms off Delaware and New Jersey, and is eyeing sites in Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Michigan and New York -- said the approval 'gives everyone more certainty that the permitting process has an end point that has a positive outcome.' Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles said the decision was essential if the United States wants to catch up with Europe and China, which have offshore wind power. Three years ago, Bowles said, Patrick visited China, and officials there asked him about the technology; now China is generating 100 megawatts of offshore wind power. Cape Wind eventually will produce 468 megawatts of electricity, an amount that could power about 150,000 homes. 'We're just getting started,' Bowles said."